Valve construction



Oct.-12, 1943. l o. c. MARTIN 2,331,562

VALVE CONS TRUCTION Original Filed June 4, 1940 Or/s c. Amm/5 INVENTOR Patented Oct. 12, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFF ICE VALVE` CONSTRUCTION `VVOtis C. Martin, Los Angeles, Calif. i Original.I application June 4, 1940, Serial No.v 338,727, now Patent No. 2,282,490, dated May 12, 1942. Divided and this application April 1, 1942, Serial No.437,125 e 3 Claims. (Creel- 155) My invention relates to valves and has particular reference to a body construction` for control valves for hydraulic power systems.

This application is a division of my Copending application Serial No. 338,727, iiled June 4, 1940, now Patent No. 2,282,490, granted May 12, 1942, and entitled` Valve construction.

The modern aeroplanes and "particularly the military aircraft employ a number of hydraulic power systems for effecting certain of the mechanical functions of the mechanism. For example, it is the common practice to use suchhydraulic power system to effect the raising and lowering of retractablelanding gears and bomb racks andto effect the vopening and closingvof bomb hatches andthe like.v These systems are controlled by means of 3-wayor -way valves provided at ea-ch end with means for connecting a fluid line thereto.

It is an additional object of my invention to provide avalve body construction of theV char.; acter` setl forthin the preceding paragraph in which va'fc1osuremeans is employed Vto lseal up the end off each` of the supplyl ports to which iluid lines are not connected.v

Other objectsk and advantages of my invention Ywill rbe apparent from a study of the following specifications, read in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein: .Y

Fig. 4.1 is a perspectiveview of, a valve constructed'in accordance with my invention and -illustrated di:agrammaticallyl as being connected to control a piston andcylinder type of iiuid mounted in the pilots, engineers or bombardiers f compartments. n ,i l

Because of the variety of structures upon which such valves are mountedan'd because of the extremely limited space Vavailable in. which such valves may be positioned, oonsiderablediiculty has in the past been experienced in producing a Valve body having the iluidiline connections so arrangedas to permit the'ready installation of the Valve in all of thevarious desired locations. In general, if the fluid connections are provided ontop, for example, to t one installation, the next will require that theconnections be on the bottom; or if one require the connections to'be on the leit side, the next will-require connections to the right-hand side, etc.

Prior to my invention it wasthe practice to use one type of valve and iit the tubing lines to that valve as by means of lreturn bends or by means of U-'bends formed in the tubing itself. This practice not only increased the vWeight of the installation and the space occupied thereby over what it would be were such bends omitted, but also resulted in such an rintermingling and overlapping of the tubing linesastomake the original installation alaborious andtime consuming task and render maintenance operations exceedingly difficult.

It is, therefore, an objectof my invention to provide a valve body construction which will overcome the abovev noted disadvantages by providing for the attachment Vof the `iiuid lines at either side of the body as desired.

It is also an object of my invention to. provide a valve body construction in which each of the fluid supply ports is extended completely 'through the body from one side 'thereof to the other and power apparatus;

Fig. 2` is a-transverse vertical vsectional View of the valve construction illustrated `in Fig; 1, the view being takenralong the line II-II-oi Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is-a longitudinalA vertical sectionalview taken along the line III- III of Fig. 1 to illustrate radditional,tletailsof construction of the valve of y my invention; j v 1 v Referring to the drawing, I have illustrated in Fig. 1 a valve l constructedin accordance; withv my invention, such valve including afbodyv member or block 2 which may befand is .preferably constructed from a single block of .suitable material, either Inetalor plastic material, .though for the purpose of permitting my valvev itegcone" trol pressures of several hundreds ofl pounds and will move from the right-hand end of the cylins yet beextremely light in weight I prefer tov form the `body block 2 from a single piece of aluminum alloy such as fl3uralumin. l r The, particular form of LValve illustrated in Fig. 1 is one whichis adapted to control reversible power apparatus such as a pistonfand cylinder mechanism `3, selected merely for the ypurposes of illustration as including a. cylinder 4, within which reciprocates a pistonii coupled to whateverdevice is to be operated-thereby by means of a piston rod E. At one end ofv the cylinder 4 is a fluid inlet l while at the opposite end there is a fluid inlet 8 so that by supplying iiuid under pressure to the inlet lthe piston 5 der 4, as viewed in Fig. 1, toward the left-handend, exhaust fluid from the left-hand side of the piston 5 being passed out throughthe iiuidfinlet (outlet) 8. By supplying fluid pressure through the fluid inlet 8 and exhaust `iluidthroughthe inlet `(outlet)` 1, the piston 5 will be movedin the opposite direction. This form of valve illustrated in Fig. 1 has been selected for the pur pose of presenting the most comprehensive View of my improved valve construction but, as will be pointed out hereinafter, the principles of the invention are equally adapted to either single or multiple valves to be used for various other types of installations.

With the form of valve illustrated in Fig. 1, the valve body block 2 is provided with a plu rality of ports 9, I0, and I2, respectively, to which may be connected the various pipe lines required for the operation of the system; for example, the port 9 may be coupled to a supply line I3 leading from a suitable tank or other source of fluid under pressure while the port I may be coupled by a suitable pipe I4 as a return line to the tank or as an exhaust line exhausting to the atmosphere. The port may be connected by a suitable pipe |5 to the inlet 1 for the cylinder 4 while the port I2 may be connected With the iluid inlet 8 of the cylinder 4 by means of a pipe I6.

Referring particularly to Fig. 3, it will be observed that my valve is readily adaptable for mounting in a number of different positions which will readily permit the connection of the various pipe lines to either one side or the other side of the valve body block 2 by forming the ports 9, I0, II and I2 on one side ofthe body block 2 and by forming corresponding ports on the opposite side of the body block, one pair of such ports being illustrated in Fig. 2'as including the supply port 9 to which the pipe line I3 is connected while a similar and corresponding port 9a is formed in the opposite side of the body block 2 with a laterally extending fluid passage 9b interconnecting the ports and 9a. Thus the pipe line I3 may be connected to the left-hand side of the valve body if that is the most convenient side to obtain access to and the port 9a may A be plugged with a suitable threaded plug I1. If,

f on the other hand, the right-hand side of the valve body 2 is easiest of access, then the pipe I3 may be coupled by means of any suitable coupling I8 to the port 9a and the plug I1 may ,y

as to permit access for the pipes I4, I5 and I6 to either side of the valve body in the same manner as was described for the port 9 and pipe I3.

When my valve isto be employed with a power apparatus such as 3, I prefer to provide in the valve block 2 a pair of valve chamber bores I9 and 2D, respectively, such valve bores extending in parallel relation to each other and disposed side by side in the same vertical plane. The valve bore I9 preferably extends from the top surface of the valve body 2 and is disposed between the fluid passage I Ib on the .one hand and the uid passages 9b and Illb on the other hand, while the valve bore similarly extends from thetop surface of the valve body 2 and is disposed between the fluid passage |2b on the one hand and the fluid passages 9b and Illb on the other hand. Thus the fluid passages 9b and IIJb `are common to both-of the valve bores. Within each of the valve chamber bores I9 and 20 I position control valve units 2| which are preferably removably secured in said bores as by means of cap or plug members 22 threaded into the open upper ends of the bores I9 and 20 and engaging the units 2 I.

The units 2| are each preferably constructed as described and claimed in my parent application Serial No. 338,727, led June 4, 1940 and entitled Valve construction. For the purpose of the present description it is suflicient to note that each of the units 2| comprises a self-contained cartridge Within which is mounted a pair of valves, the upper one of which is adapted to open and close a fluid passage between an upper set of'apertures 48 and a central set of apertures 48a extended through the wall of the cartridge, and the lower one of which is adapted to open and close a fluid passage between the central set of apertures 48a and a lower set of apertures 49 also extended through the wall of 9 the cartridge. The sets of apertures 48, 48a and 4B are suitably isolated from each other by means of a seat construction 57-58 and a sealing ring or gasket 59.

Operating stems 60 and 6| for the valves in the cartridge are extended exteriorly of the cartridge and into engagement with an operating shaft or cam shaft 63 extending transversely of the bores I9 and 20 and providing cam surfaces t4 and 65 arranged to selectively open and close the valves in the valve unit 2| upon rotation of the cam shaft and in the manner disclosed in my parent application above mentioned.

'I'o permit the valve units 2| to control the flow of fluid in the fluid lines I3, |4, l5 and I6 it is necessary that both of the upper sets of apertures 48 in the valve units 2| communicate with the fluid passage 9b and that both of the lower sets of apertures 49 in the valve units 2| communicateV with the fluid passage I0b. It is also necessary that the central set of apertures 48a in one of the Valve units 2| communicate with the fluid passage IIb while the central set of apertures 48a in the other valve unit 2| communicates with the fluid passage I2b.

This is readily accomplished by employing the principles of construction and manufacture described in my copending applications Serial No. 323,376, filed March l1, 1940, and Serial No. 330,752, filed April 20, 1940, as by forming the bore I9, forming the bores for the fluid passages 9b, IIlb, IIb and |217, and then inserting through the bore I9 a suitable boring tool which will enlarge the bore I9 as indicated at 50 to form an annular chamber surrounding the valve unit 2|, the diameter of the enlargement 50 being sulcient to intersect the fluid passage bore 9b at 5| and thus provide for intercommunication between the fluid passage 9b and the interior of both of the valve assemblies 2|.

Similarly, the bore I9 may be enlarged as indicated at 52 immediately adjacent the location of the fluid openings 48a, such enlargement 52 intersecting the fluid passage I Ib as indicated at 53. Similarly, the lowermost portion of the bore I9 is enlarged as at I9d to intersect the fluid passage |0b as indicated at 54.

From the foregoing it will be observed that I have provided a novel valve body construction which is adapted for single, 3-way or multiple valve operation and which permits each of the fluid connections to such a valve to be made at any one of a plurality of points as desired to thereby permit the valve to be installed as desired and substantially without regard to the locations of the fluid lines to be connected thereto.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, I do not desire to be limited to any of the details of construction shown or described herein, except as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a fluid control valve, a body member having opposed faces, a pair of parallelly disposed uid inlet passages extending through said body member from one of said faces to the other, means in said uid passages for connecting uid pipes from either face of said body, plugs for closing the end of each of said passages to which pipes are not connected, and a valve receiving bore in said body extending transversely of said passages and spaced therefrom,said bore having enlargements intersecting each of said passages.

2. In a fluid control valve, a body member having opposed faces, a pair of parallelly disposed uid inlet passages extending through said body member from one of said faces to the other, means in said uid passages for connecting fluid pipes from either face of said body,

f plugs for closing the end of each of said passages to which pipes are not connected, and a valve receiving bore in said body extending transversely of said passages and spaced therefrom, said bore having spaced enlargements each intersecting one of said passages.

`3. In a fluid control valve, a body member having opposed faces, a pair of parallelly disposed iuid .inlet passages extending through said body member from one of said faces to the other, means in said fiuid passages for connecting fluid pipes from either face of said body,

plugs for closing the end of each of said passages -to which pipes are not connected, and a valve receiving bore in said body extending transversely of said passages and .positioned between said passages but spaced therefrom, said bore having an enlargement intersecting both of said passages.

.OTIS C. MARTIN. 

